Sorry! BFA Review

Hey guys, Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been really busy with school and studio. I'm applying to get into my photo major this quarter so it's been hectice trying to figure out what I should show and what I shouldn't. Anyways, I thought I would show the digital images I'm going to show. This is going to be a longer post because I'm going to write about each image. This is to help me focus on each image during the review. So here is my thought process for each image.

At this point in life, I'm really focused on the idea of documentary. From my observations, the 1st generation asians, or asians in general, love to document. It has become a part of our lives. I love documenting events and things. It's very interesting because when I document, I have a vision in mind, I have an image in mind. It's not mindless, there is a method running through my mind. From the hundreds of image, I try to pick one that is the most interesting, my favorite. The image itself may have sentimental reasons. Most of the time it has an interesting story behind it.

I had the opportunity to go on missions this summer to Taiwan to teach English. The main focus was trying to bring the gospel to these children and bring Jesus Christ into their lives.

We had just traveled for 15 hours. All of use were exhausted. It was the first morning of missions, I had woken up a bit early because I had to go pee. It was about 5:30 in the morning and lo and behold, there was Mrs. Yang sitting there praying. I was shocked. She had woken up early to pray for all of us. The light was perfectly illuminating her. Groggy I went and got my camera and snapped two images. This is the result of it.

This image was taken while the kids were waiting for their parents to pick them up. Elean had just stooped down to hang out with this girl and to talk to her. It was a very special moment as the teacher stopped down and connected with a child.

I love this image because it shows the boldness of the children in Taiwan. People connect in different ways, and my way is through a camera. I am so glad that I brought one because it helped break down barriers that would have taken so much longer to bust through.

I found this image interesting because we were in a photobooth shooting, but it wasn't with the photobooth camera. Haha. In Taiwan there are stores that are lined full of photobooths. Some have crazy contraptions like ladders and green screens. I love this image because everyone is in the moment. The girl on the left looks like she's about to kick me, the guy is laughing at the fact that she's about to kick me, and the last one has just let go of the monkey bars and is in mid-air.

Going to Taiwan was a great cultural experience also. My parent were born there but I was born in the US. I had gone only once before, but I was a child so I don't remember anything. This trip really opened my eyes to see what my parents experienced. It's very interesting because it's the idea of a Taiwanese American guy (me) experiencing Taiwan for the first time. This particular image represents this experience.

Moving on, this image was taken around may of 2009. At that time, my friends and I were all about exploring waterfalls around the Columbus area. We had already visited one (the next image) and had heard about this one. In order to get down to see the waterfall, you had to basically hike down a cliff and it was very steep. I had brought all my camera equipment and was wearing flipflops so it was a trek for me to try to get down and not break anything. When I got there I immediately saw this muffler laying down at the rocks. The idea of us going to see a beautiful waterfall, but seeing all the pollution and trash was bouncing around in my head. So i composed the image, the light was perfect, and clicked.

For this image, I was really focused on form and line. I just love the line of the tree and how it comes out and stretches forward.

Working for UWeekly as a freelance photographer has let me photograph many amazing places and things. This in particular was the mirror lake jump. I was in the fray of it all. I stood on a bench near the water, my gear was all covered in plastic so it was ok, but I was soaked to the bone. I kept trying to find a interesting angle of people jumping in the water, but it was working. I took my mandatory shots and tried to find something interesting. Out of all the images from that night, this one is my favorite. I just love how the light is shining through that float and how it illuminates it. In a sea of people the eye is immediately drawn to it, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

This is my photo 401 final piece. I'm going to show it to my professors. I did a self documentary of a weekend of my life. It was rather challenging and difficult. At the end of the documentary I was exhausted and tired of shooting. This piece when seen is very overwhelming. There are about 2,500+ images in this piece. And what I wanted to get at was making a pure self documentary. Do I think I succeeded? No, absolutely not. I rather think I failed. There are so many things that I would change if I did this again. I would like to take it from a different approach. I can't discuss it now because I would like to actually try it. But anyways, I think this project really opened my eyes to how I view things. How every little thing can be analyzed. Everything I do: how I compose, how I crop, how I present, how I edit can affect and change how the view interprets a piece of art. I think that was the breakthough for me

images courtesy of alexa marie fogle

That is my bit, again, sorry for not posting more often. I will try to post more as midterms are over. When I started this blog, I only wanted to post my commercial work. But as time goes on, I'm starting to feel like this can be an outlet for my personal work also. So I will start posting my personal and commercial work on my blog. Thanks for reading! -Victor

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